


The Parallax Experiments

by SpartanPhi



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 07:56:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21370774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpartanPhi/pseuds/SpartanPhi
Summary: When Ethan begins to question the true nature of the secretive experiments that his father conducted with the US government, he discovers something beyond comprehension.





	1. Thanksgiving 2014

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Farnsworth Experiments](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/532945) by Unknown. 
**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan visits his father and younger sister for thanksgiving, and an old family friend comes by.

_ Prologue _

You’re most likely familiar with the conspiracy theories surrounding The Parallax Experiments. It was, according to the theorists at least, a series of government-led experiments regarding alternative universes, conducted from 1987 to 1997. While the base theory only stated it’s existence and that it was discontinued for unknown reasons, many splinter theories have emerged from this to try and fill in the gaps. Such as why it was started, and what they actually did. The Parallax Experiments actually did happen, but most speculations on it are far from the truth. I know this, because my dad was one of the scientists involved. He said he was high up, but he never clarified. He told me, every time I asked, that The Parallax Experiments were discontinued because of failure, nothing more. They tried and failed, that’s all there is to it. The government only denies it out of embarrassment. After all, why wouldn’t they? They threw valuable time, money, and effort at a dead end. It made sense to me, though he never wanted me to tell anyone else. It was painful, though, having to hold it in like that, but I kept it secret, and we were happy.

It was only until Thanksgiving that everything changed.

  
  


_ Arrival _

Sunday, 3PM. I just got done driving to Upstate New York, all the way from Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT wasn’t very close, at all, but I was luckier than most students. All of my courses had chosen to break for a full week, and so I was allowed to leave for that portion of time to visit family. It was a long drive, and I felt drowsy, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to talk to my father and sister, so I could catch up. Walking up to the house, I rang the doorbell and waited.

“Ethan!” My father said, as he opened the door. “Glad you could make it.” He gave me one of those tight fatherly hugs I’m used to.

“I’m glad too, Dad. Do you know how bad traffic was at the state line?” I replied.

“Oh, I couldn’t imagine. How do you put up with it, all the way in another state without your old man?” My father said, in a warm tone.

“I don’t. I just sit around and waste your money, moseying around about how much I miss you.” I walked over to greet my sister.

“Hey, dude.” My sister waved to me. She was sitting in the living room, filling out some sort of worksheet.

“Heyo.” I said back, plopping onto a chair near the couch, to relax after a long drive.

“You know, that’s my seat.” My father said to me, pointing to the chair.

“Well, I just drove all the way from MIT, so maybe I deserve to relax for a moment?” I jokingly replied, with a smile on my face.

“Eh, you’re probably right.” My father, smiling, went to sit on the couch besides my sister.

“Hey, why don’t you put that down for a moment and talk with us?” My father said to my sister.

“And then procrastinate until it’s due, and lower my GPA with late work? I don’t think so.” My sister rebutted to Dad, who then stopped talking.

“Hey, is anyone else coming?” I asked my father. He told me that this year wouldn’t be a big family reunion, as everyone else in our family tree had their own plans. So, after some talk with my family, I walked up to my room. It was my old childhood room, and still had some of my stuff in it. I sat down in my bed and took a nap, finally relaxing now that my long drive was over.

_ Thanksgiving Night _

“Technically, I wasn’t supposed to file everything. But since my shift ends sooner than everyone else’s, I just stay behind and do it myself. It’s technically Ron’s job, but I always do it for him. But, well, since he wants to micromanage everything so much, why doesn’t HE file everything! He had to spend two hours overtime just trying to figure out how to file everything, and he got grilled into by our supervisor for not even doing it right!” My father was telling us stories about his old job at the University of Chicago in Quantum Science, which he picked up after The Parallax Experiments ended. We were finishing up the turkey, and my Dad was ready to go get the pumpkin pie desert. He collected our dishes, and put them in the dishwasher. I think he was about to get the pumpkin pie when the doorbell rang.

My father speed walked from the kitchen, to the door, and opened it. I looked over, and I was pretty alarmed by who was actually at the door.

“Westley…I didn’t know you were coming.” My father seemed super surprised, and slightly dreadful.

“Do you have a quiet place to talk? It’s important.” Westley looked at my dad, with an alarmed look on his face. For an older guy, he was surprisingly fit. Hair and beard, sharp look. Though, his hair was as messy as short cut hair can get.

“I-uh.” My father looked over, and then back at Westley. “Yes, in my office. Come with me.”

They walked to my dad’s office, closing the door. Me and my sister sat there at the table, waiting patiently for them to finish. But a total of five minutes passed, and they had not come back. So, me and my sister decided to eavesdrop and see what it was that they were talking about. We walked over, and listened in by the door, faintly hearing what they were talking about.

“Why did you go back? Why did you HAVE to go back, Wes?”

“I had to. I needed answers. They’re still alive, you know.”

“No, they’re…they’re gone. There’s no way, *sigh*, there’s just-”

“You could see her again. Mary.” My mother. Mary Stone.

“I couldn’t, she would-”

“Please, we have to.”

“You’re out of your fucking mind. What would we do if they found out? Do you want to take that risk? They’re gone, we can’t get them back. They’re-”

“Thinking like that isn’t going to get them back. They’re not dead.”

“What if another oscillation happens? That entir-” I slipped and bumped against the doorknob, pressing the door forward and creating a thump sound. Me and my sister cringed, and the entire room went silent. I got up, and we both went back down the stairs. 

A moment after we did, the office door opened and they walked out.

“Be honest with us,” Dad said, returning to his seat at the edge of the table, Westley sitting at the other edge, “how much did you hear?”

“We heard about the going back part, he mentioned Mom,” I said, pointing to Westley as I did, “and then you were going on about oscillations when it happened.”

My father sighed. Westley opened his mouth to talk, and then…

“If you’re going to talk about what happened, then you are not welcome in my house.” My father quickly retorted at him.

“They have a right to know, you shouldn’t-” Westley said, before getting interrupted again.

“Get the fuck out of my house. I don’t want to see you again.” Westley began to get up, and was about to leave.

“And if you ever try to contact me, or my family again, I will fucking kill you.” Westley turned around, giving one last look at my father. It seemed to be an unholy trinity of sadness, disappointment, and resentment. Then, he left and drove off. My father got up, got the pumpkin pie, and we ate desert. We didn’t say a single word for the rest of the night, and we never brought it up, either.

  
  



	2. Project Alternum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan confronts Westley and finds more questions than answers.

_Office Snooping_

After that night, it essentially became an unspoken rule that we were forbidden from ever even referencing that night’s events. Westley and everything to do with him was also banned without a word as well. However, that wouldn’t be enough to stop my curiosity. I decided that if I wanted to find out more, Dad’s office might have something. I couldn’t do much online research due to the fact that I forgot to bring a computer, and I wasn’t too eager on taking the risk of using Dad’s office computer. 

Therefore, any documents he had would be my best bet. While my Dad was at the country club, and my sister was at school (her break was only 2 days), I went into my father’s office and took a look through his documents. Most of it was just old stuff from his time at Chicago University that wouldn’t help me in the slightest. However, I did find an empty folder marked Parallax. The bottom right edge of it seemed to be burned. The back of the folder had a phone number scratched onto it, and Westley’s name. I presumed it was Westley’s phone number, and so I wrote it down, and then put everything back and left. 

It took three tries before he finally picked up.

“You better not kill me for this. I’m so fuckin-” Westley began to say, before I interrupted him.

“Westley, it’s me. Ethan.” 

“Ethan?” Westley replied. He seemed genuinely concerned.

“Yes, Wes. Me. Before you hang up, I’m not going to tell him. I just want some answers.”

“Right, right…Look. Can you drive to Schenectady? We’ll meet at Schenectady Park, around 2:00PM tomorrow. Your father always hated the area.” Westley replied, talking quietly into the phone.

“That’s a little far, but I think I can make it, yeah. I’ll have to come up with an excuse, but I can meet you there.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t tell anyone you’re coming, and don’t let anyone come with you, or I won’t show myself.”

“O-” He hung up before I could even say anything. 

I put the phone away, and as I did, my sister drove home from high school. I sat in my room, anticipating the date.

_Rendezvous_

November 29, 2014. 2:02 PM, Schenectady, New York.

I walked into the park, and took a look around. My father and sister thought I went “downtown” earlier this morning, which technically was the truth. But I ran into traffic, thus making my arrival more delayed than it should have. Westley appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and walked over.

“What do you want to know?” Westley asked me.

“Everything. Why the tests started, what happened to Mary, and-” I began before being cut off by him.

“Alright. I’ll tell you what happened. Here’s how it started…

“In 1983, there was a professor from MIT. He was Professor Richardson, with his Assistant Sandoval. They were quantum theorists, and were conducting research on the possibility of parallel universes, which they called ‘Project Alternum’. They came up with a hypothesis that would either confirm or deny the theory. I’m not 100% sure of the specifics. All we got was a basic summary, and I’m just filling in the blanks on what they told us through inference, but Richardson had a property out in rural Massachusetts. A one story ranch with a basement. Some sort of machine was involved…it.” He seemed to tear up a bit. “I-it was used as a basis for our first prototypes. They did the test, and, well. It worked. It didn’t just work, it caused something.” He seemed to be tearing up, almost on the verge of tears. “He was the only survivor. They nabbed him when he tried to publish his results, and everything he said seemed to check out. So they funded what became the..” He began to cry. “I’m sorry, I just can’t. I didn’t think..”

“No, no. Uncle Wes, it’s fine. You’re fine, I-” I was trying to comfort him before he interrupted me again.

“I’m not fine. I’m sorry, your father was right. I can’t tell you what happened, I just can’t. You’re already lucky to not know.” He was crying now.

“Wes, I-”

“No. You c-can’t take it! I c-can’t do this, Ethan. I can’t remember, I just can’t. It’s too painful. Please, it hurts to remember. Hurts to think. He was right. I shouldn’t have come back. I’m crazy to just..”

“Uncle Wes, wait!”

“No. I can’t. I’m sorry. Just fill in the blanks. The answer is…” He turned and walked away, unable to finish his statement. I just stood there and let him leave, as he disappeared into the park again. I felt bad for him. He clearly did something that made him want to forget. After that, I left, too.

  
_Departure_

I arrived back at my Dad’s house around 6PM.

“Where were you, Ethan?” My father said, concerned.

“Traffic sucked, and I got super tired downtown, so I took a nap.” I replied.

“Were you really downtown? Two hours ago I drove through with your sister, you weren’t anywhere.” My father replied, sounding even more concerned, as if he knew I lied.

“Guess you didn’t look hard enough.” I walked past him, ignoring any further questions he had and going to my room, closing the door and sitting onto the bed. I had to drive back early tomorrow morning, and I needed the sleep. He knew, too.

That morning, I gave everyone their goodbyes, at 6AM and then drove off back to Cambridge, back to MIT. On the way back, I was thinking about everything Westley had told me.

If Professor Richardson was real, and he really did start The Parallax Experiments, and if Project Alternum was the precursor study, then where would I go from there? Would the MIT archives still have the answers I seek? I have to hope that the government didn’t completely wipe every trace of him from the place, otherwise I’ve just hit a dead end. Maybe it’s for the best anyway, I have work to do and I can’t let some dumb conspiracy theory hold me back. No, no. This mystery will just eat away at the back of my mind unless I pursue it full force. That’s what I have to do. It’s what I’ve chosen to do ever since that Thanksgiving night.

And with that in mind, I was ready to sweep every last paper in MIT just to find the answers I seek.


End file.
